For quite some time, have read, searched for information about parts and tried to find optimal( more usefulness , less cost ) configurations and upgrade|assembly paths , taking into account as much as possible. Still a lot to learn, I think.

It'd be used for game development( including testing ), programming, 3D modelling, image editing, rendering, some engineering, research, learning and such.

Newest or most expensive parts may...- not be truly ready yet, featuring issues to be dealt with- become significantly cheaperand thus might not be most reasonable right away.

Less noise is better. However, shouldn't most newer parts be more silent|quiet and energy-efficient than, say, a P4?

If- there are going to be fans( CPU and ( Case-global | PSU ) ) anyhow,- "if your system doesn't have great airflow, even the lesser TDP cards may need a fan."- a higher GPU would not end up making it loud either- 1GB RAM can start to become limiting, could as well go for a higher GPU.

Less noise is better. However, shouldn't most newer parts be more silent|quiet and energy-efficient than, say, a P4?

Well, if your P4 is the 660, it has a TDP of 115W. The i5-3570K has a TDP of 77W. So, that's one core with hyperthreading vs 4 cores. Here's how that plays out. Single threaded performance is ~3x faster and multithreaded is up to 10x faster for the i5.

...Or could there be use of an already present... ?- Chieftec CFT-650-14C , 650W , 14Cm fan

The Chieftec fan's minimum rotation is 1100rpm. So, it can't be very quiet. It's ok on efficiency. Your system load power without a discrete graphics card will be in the 130W range. The HD 7750 adds 55W, the 7770 adds 80W. So, call it 210W under stress load and maybe 180W while gaming. The fanless Seasonic 400W would be fine. Or, you could go cheaper with the Seasonic G series 360W (~$60). It'll be quieter than your Chieftec and more efficient at lower loads.

T K wrote:

How much do many-core processors justify themselves already? Applications able to utilize them with enough benefit? ...Some problems can be hard to parallelize.

A better way to look at it: which of your apps will benefit from a quad core CPU? 3D modelling, image editing, rendering certainly will.

T K wrote:

How do compare... ?- 4GB GDDR3- 1GB GDDR5

4GB of slow memory on a video card is just window dressing to lure in suckers. Generally speaking, DDR3 on a video card means it's not very good for games. 1GB of GDDR5 is good enough for the 7750 and 7770. If you plan to game at 1080p, or if your game development is targeted at PC gaming, then you might consider moving up to a higher class of card, otherwise you may be limited on what AA, AF, textures you can resolve at a useable framerate.

T K wrote:

Could a 8GB of SSD be enough? Aren't current OSes supporting such HW already taking much space themselves, though one shouldn't need to cache all on SDD?

I think you'd be MUCH better off having a reasonably sized (120GB) SSD for OS/apps and a HDD for data/media. These hybrid drives might be a tad faster than an HDD, but really don't compare to a full SSD.

In case of such fanful processors, would passivity and fanlessness of other parts go to waste?In case of a separate GPU, would some K-ness( HD4000 over HD2500 ) of i5-3570K go to waste? Would a non-K become more reasonable then?

CA_Steve wrote:

T K wrote:

How do compare... ?- 4GB GDDR3- 1GB GDDR5

4GB of slow memory on a video card is just window dressing to lure in suckers. Generally speaking, DDR3 on a video card means it's not very good for games. 1GB of GDDR5 is good enough for the 7750 and 7770. If you plan to game at 1080p, or if your game development is targeted at PC gaming, then you might consider moving up to a higher class of card, otherwise you may be limited on what AA, AF, textures you can resolve at a useable framerate.

7750 with GDDR5 sounded distinctive due to 'Passive'-ness.

Does "Cool Stream" mean it'd be more silent|quiet than other-wise or other models? Or could it also be to lure in suckers or perhaps to suck in together with air?- Club 3D AMD RADEON HD 7850 Cool Stream 2048MB 256BIT GDDR5 ,Directx11,2xminiDP, 1x DVI, HDMI, 860/4800 PCI-Exp,(CGAX-7856F)

Could a 8GB of SSD be enough? Aren't current OSes supporting such HW already taking much space themselves, though one shouldn't need to cache all on SDD?

I think you'd be MUCH better off having a reasonably sized (120GB) SSD for OS/apps and a HDD for data/media. These hybrid drives might be a tad faster than an HDD, but really don't compare to a full SSD.

How'd be if some data was also on SSD? Could it wear out quicker?Found...- Samsung 840 Series PRO 256GB SATA 6Gb/s

Mother-boardWhat good strategies exist to get it right or what needs attention? ...Ensure that there are enough holes for every part, including some for upgrading and then minimize price?Is there also an internal connection speed between ports for parts to consider?

In case of such fanful processors, would passivity and fanlessness of other parts go to waste?

It depends on what you are trying to do. Do you live in an anechoic chamber with a noise floor of 10dBA where ANY sound from the PC would be noticable or in a noisy apartment next to an airport? It's a relative scale. In general, the approach is to find quiet/silent components and then put them into a quiet case. You can certainly build a completely passive system...up to a certain level of CPU/GPU power (look through the article index). After that, the system will require some level of airflow/fans. The trick is to minimize the noise sources without throwing uneccessary $'s at the problem.

Quote:

In case of a separate GPU, would some K-ness( HD4000 over HD2500 ) of i5-3570K go to waste? Would a non-K become more reasonable then?

Go for the K if you want to overclock. Otherwise go for the non-K.

Video cards: First figure out what level of performance you need - is it 1080p gaming or some other resolution? Do you want to maximize out the effects or don't mind turning down AA/ AF/ textures, etc (just within 1080p, this is the difference between a $100 80W card and a $260 170W card).

Mobo: In general, if you go with the K part, then get a Z77 chipset mobo. If you go with the non-K part, then you can drop down to the H77 chipset mobos. And yes, it really just comes down to feature sets, how well the board works (look for reviews!) and how well it's viewed by consumers (newegg.com and Amazon reviews are good yardsticks for customer satisfaction). In specific, Asus boards get specified a lot here due to their well done fan controller software.

If you plan to game at 1080p, or if your game development is targeted at PC gaming, then you might consider moving up to a higher class of card, otherwise you may be limited on what AA, AF, textures you can resolve at a useable framerate.

Quote:

Video cards: First figure out what level of performance you need - is it 1080p gaming or some other resolution? Do you want to maximize out the effects or don't mind turning down AA/ AF/ textures, etc (just within 1080p, this is the difference between a $100 80W card and a $260 170W card).

currently have a 17.1" LCD -- 768p or perhaps 960p at 4:3 aspect ratioDon't mind turning down AA / AF / DoF.Yes, game development is targeted at PC, at least at 1st.

Earlier considered that if, in case there are some fan-ful parts( like processors ), passivity and fanlessness of other parts( like a 7750 GPU ) would be masked( and be wasted ) and a higher GPU would not end up making it loud either, could as well go for a higher GPU.

If you have a 17" screen, it's most likely 1280x1024..unless it's ancient. Easy enough to tell by right clicking on your desktop to pull up the screen resolution menu. In any case, there are lots of review sites that will give you an idea of the range of fps for a given video card at a given resolution for a variety of games. I gathered some video card reviews that also gave noise levels here. It's mostly targeted at 1080p gaming, but, other lower TDP cards are compared as well.

Passive or fanned gfx card when you have a CPU fan: Yes, there will be a baseline noise level in your system with the PC cooler and other stuff. That can be very quiet, depending on your build. Adding any additional fanned component will add to that baseline - whether of not you will notice will depend on how quiet that new component is and your ambient noise level.

On the practical side, once you get up past 80W TDP or so, the graphics card will need a fan (or directed airflow) to stay cool...and if your system doesn't have great airflow, even the lesser TDP cards may need a fan.

Not familiar with the Asrock board - that description/part number looks to be jumbled up.

RAM: Stick with the first tier memory providers...don't think I'd buy either of those. Look for low profile, CAS9 or so, perhaps 1.35V. Get 2x4GB of DDR 1600. If you need more later, you can always add another 2x4GB.

On the practical side, once you get up past 80W TDP or so, the graphics card will need a fan (or directed airflow) to stay cool...and if your system doesn't have great airflow, even the lesser TDP cards may need a fan.

Could issues be similar regarding fannyness of PSUs?

Quote:

RAM: Stick with the first tier memory providers...don't think I'd buy either of those. Look for low profile, CAS9 or so, perhaps 1.35V. Get 2x4GB of DDR 1600. If you need more later, you can always add another 2x4GB.

But even if most or all recommended cases are discontinued, the principle behind the award stays the same, so it seems possible to deduct the essential architectural traces of a "silent" case.

Some of them are:

-120mm or 140mm case fans, at least one in front and one in the back-mostly closed case, but still having a minimum air movement-case need not to be sound proofed with additional material if you pick your stuff accordingly-pleasing to your eye

gfx cards: Performance is driven by many things...and memory bandwidth is just one of them. My suggestion is to read some card reviews at the The Tech Report, Techpowerup, Anandtech, and others to get a feel for how these various components interact and to decide what level of card you want to get. Once you narrow it down to a GPU, we can help point you toward a quiet model.

In principle. I'd always test the stock fans first, see how loud they are to my ear and then start fine tuning rpm of individual fans.How many fans will your build use? And how will you try to tune rpms? If you think of just buying, assembling = silence, then you clearly are mistaken.

T K wrote:

How'd the R4 fare? Compared to CM 650?

IMHO R4 beats the CM.

T K wrote:

Could Bus Size matter less for GDDR5 than for GDDR3? Eg 192BIT vs 256BIT.

Faster RAM is always to prefer. If there are GDDR5 versions of your card, don't bother with GDDR3. Bus Size is determined by GPU model and nothing to order as an extra.

Since one of our sugestions seems to trigger a whole bunch of new questions, i somehow gather the impression you could use some more basic reading and stuff. Try to follow some of our user building threads, they are often describing what they exactly did to stock parts to tune them quiet enough.

In any case, there are lots of review sites that will give you an idea of the range of fps for a given video card at a given resolution for a variety of games. I gathered some video card reviews that also gave noise levels here. It's mostly targeted at 1080p gaming, but, other lower TDP cards are compared as well.

Thank you! Did read those posts and many reviews. Some of those could also be found when searching for "CardDescription review" via search-engines.

How do relate difFerent sites' noise measurements?- for RADEON 7850 and GTX 660 ""|"Ti"?

Its really hard to compare sites, and even then its all relative, not all have high end chambers to measure noise. I only trust SPCR, but there is not that many gpus tested, but other fellow members also share info.

This is not true in Germany, we have the cheapest 660ti around 190€ whereas the cheapest GTX760 runs in at 250€. If you only use 1080P only, i cannot see any real life difference between a 660/660ti/760 because regardless of GPU you will have to reduce the eye candy to achieve 35+ FPS in most modern titles.

gfx cards: Performance is driven by many things...and memory bandwidth is just one of them. My suggestion is to read some card reviews at the The Tech Report, Techpowerup, Anandtech, and others to get a feel for how these various components interact and to decide what level of card you want to get.

Read I did, even more than before. Including over half of that same day of your suggestion.Found conflicting noise test results info, too.

CA_Steve wrote:

Once you narrow it down to a GPU, we can help point you toward a quiet model.

Yes, thank you! Available models can also affect a GPU's usability though.

If- there are going to be fans( CPU and ( Case-global | PSU ) ) anyhow- "if your system doesn't have great airflow, even the lesser TDP cards may need a fan."- a higher GPU would not end up making it loud either- 1GB RAM can start to become limiting, could as well go for a higher GPU.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum